CHAPTER SEVEN: SEDUCTION

Zuko was his friend. Zuko wasn't using him. Zuko just needed a favor.

But the seeds of doubt had already been planted. There was an oozing, sickly feeling crawling in Aang's chest. He should've been use to it, even welcoming it like an old friend, but he could barely maintain his composure. The Avatar squirmed in her grip. Aang even had to remind himself that he was still in control, because he was patient. All he had to do was outlast her.

"Is this bothering you?" She asked musically. The Avatar's head was hung down and he surveyed his palm to avoid looking at her.

"No." Aang lied, but she saw right through him.

"We can talk about something else." She offered. "I'd like to know, where are Mai and Ty Lee?

He refused to answer, and she dully noted his silence. "No good? Alright."

This wasn't going to last long, and Aang knew it. He quietly drew in a breath of air and straightened his back. Her face seemed to glow with a beautiful green aura from behind the bars. She could've been angelic if not for the terrible scowl.

"Where's my dear old uncle?" She inquired. "I wager that I could predict what happened to him."

"Go for it."

She took a deep sigh, "I suspect that he's working in a tea shop, somewhere in a slum so that he can be with the type of people he loves."

"Close." Aang was legitimately impressed and had to smile, "He's working at a tea shop in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se."

"Hmm." Azula matched his smile, and Aang silently regretted the waste of beauty that she was. "Let me ask, do you find me evil?"

With no hesitation he answered, "Yes."

"I could tell. And for what reason?"

"You killed me." He shrugged, trying to make it comedic.

"I killed you?" Her demeanor suddenly became deadly serious, and she spoke at a steady pace, "I killed you?"

Aang shifted uncomfortably. "It's like I said, I don't kill. The Air Nomads always told me death was the ultimate atrocity."

Those glaring eyes of gold weren't convinced. "Let me tell you a story Aang. I had a servant when I was thirteen years old, her name was Yanyu. She was one of my favorite servants, very loyal and attentive. We were coleus, to an extent, and I knew her very well. She told me about her home life and her friends and her previous job. I never met her husband, but from what I'd heard he was her treasure. They were the perfect couple. It was a pleasure to have a servant who was so… happy." A hint of nostalgia passed through her voice.

"One bitterly cold winter day, she told me that her husband had been drafted. Yanyu didn't worry about him; he was a Firebender and our soldiers almost always came home alive." Her glare stung into Aang. "But he had been drafted into Admiral Zhao's fleet to the North Pole, and he never returned." She made sure that the next three words strung like a wasp, "You killed him.

"Yanyu was devastated when we heard back from the survivors. I can't say I cared. I never saw her after I departed. But I have a question for you: did Yanyu's husband deserve to die? More than my father?"

Aang looked away, ashamed and confused. He despised the Avatar State and the destruction it had caused by his hand. He didn't need to be reminded, especially on such a personal level. But her point was clear. Horrifying and clear.

"By my nation's standards I had an obligation to kill you. Especially when that pillar of light appeared." Azula spat. "Don't waste your philosophy on me."

Aang didn't respond. He only sat under her penetrating glare. They had both committed atrocities, but was it possible to feel more cruel and evil than the monster behind the bars?

"You're not…" Aang paused to lick his dry lips, "You're not evil." It was disturbing how she could lead him to say something like that. And believe it. That boundary between good and evil was the only edge he had against her. At this point, energybending would almost certainly result in his death. He was so unsure of himself when he looked at her. He didn't know what to believe or who to trust. He didn't even have faith in his own morals! He was a murderer.

But Azula embraced the emptiness of her soul. I can't say I cared. She was completely devoid of sympathy, and that gave her strength. She just existed without a drop of contempt. She had no morals.

"I understand." She relaxed, and even seemed to be regretful. "You're the Avatar, and you have a duty to the world. To do your best. To be perfect. And even that's not enough." She purred, "I know that pain."

Aang let himself look into her eyes, and there was a welcoming sense of tranquility in their depths. She didn't smile, but he was thankful for that. Every time she smiled, it seemed to make his insides coil. But now, he felt calm.

"You have all the power in the world." Her voice slid delicately. Everything she said touched him like a soothing massage and sent him into a meditative solace. "But you are still too weak." She was right. He couldn't stop the famines in the Earth Kingdom. He still didn't have the trust of the Fire Nation. He couldn't even beat her.

She muttered other careful phrases that slowly seemed to embrace him. Her voice was a cradle, rocking him and giving him warmth in this darkness. It was magnificent, her every word and every tone a perfect musical harmony that seemed to tie him up.

He couldn't see his staff in his hand, or the walls at his sides, or the floor under his knees. The cell was growing darker and darker and the only thing he could see was Azula's face, framed by a mane of black hair and lit by a devilish light.

But even that mask seemed to disappear behind a black curtain, and Aang lost himself…

He had been brought into a nightmare, one where he could see nothing but malice all around him. The evil of that place pressed on his chest and strangled his neck. The terror that crept up inside of him made him want to cry. Aang felt like everything, even himself, was out of his hands and he was at the mercy of death. He was trapped, like he'd been trapped in a sphere of stone at Wu Long Forest. It was like Ozai was right outside, battering him with fire.

Only Azula had managed to do that with her voice.

Aang now understood firsthand why Zuko had joined her in Ba Sing Se, why the Dai Li had chosen her over Long Feng, and why her friends were always so loyal. Azula was horrifying.

She led by fear and psychological torment, but there was a part of her that was compassionate and healing. Her words demanded attention. She could calculate your deepest fears and use them to control you. For Zuko, it was his fear of being a failure in his father's eyes. For Sokka, it had been his fear of losing Suki. For Aang, she had latched onto his fear of killing.

She had planted seeds of doubt in Aang's friendship with Zuko. She had even tried to imply that she was on his side; that they both had to deal with being perfect. And she was tying strings, winning him over, and manipulating his very thoughts.

But this was the brilliance of Aang's plan.

He had expected this.

He had even let it happen.

Azula thought she was manipulating him. She thought Aang's friendship with Zuko was poisoned. She thought he trusted her. She thought his morals had been shaken. She even thought that she had been in control this whole time.

That's all she needed to think. Aang had let himself play along and slip into her madness, but he wasn't one of her pawns. He was one step ahead.

Embraced in this impenetrable heart of darkness, all Aang had to do to rescue himself was think of Katara. Just the thought of her smile brought back feelings of true warmth. Azula's frail imitation of compassion was nothing by comparison.

Aang calmed himself with a hot, steady breath and recalled Zuko's mantra, Azula always lies.